J.J. Murphy: An Irish jewel on the South Indian High Ranges

The first half of the last century. A rainy day at Ooty, South India’s famous hill station. Some nuns were walking along a road in the cold.

Suddenly a car stopped by and the gentleman driver offered them a lift. He asked why they did not use a vehicle in such inclement weather. The answer was that their convent did not have one.

The next day, a local dealer delivered a brand new Dodge car at the convent. The astonished nuns thanked the donor. They also told him they could not keep the vehicle, because there was no money to engage a driver or to buy petrol.

That was no problem. The Irish gentleman assigned a driver on his payroll to the convent. He also instructed a petrol bunk to forward the convent’s bills to his office. That was John Joseph Murphy (1872 - 1957). He was the proprietor of Murphy Estates, Yendayar, which was India’s first commercially successful rubber plantation.

Another scene. An old man in a remote village receives a Money Order at the beginning of the month. That had become a routine for him and others who had retired from Murphy’s service.

A strange thing was that the message ‘This is the last payment’ was written at the bottom of every Money Order form. But the recipients were confident that the pension payment would continue till they died. Only Murphy knew the purpose of the message.

Murphy had a workforce of about 1000 people drawn from the three South Indian states. His concern for their welfare and that of their families was amazing. He was almost a century ahead of the labour unions and the government in providing amenities to the workers.

Murphy Estate had a small but pucca hospital, with a few beds for inpatients. In complicated cases, specialists were brought from outside for consultation. Patients in severe condition were taken to major hospitals far away from Yendayar. All expenses were met by Murphy.

Every married person in Murphy’s employment was provided free housing with piped water. When the couple had children, one more room was added to the living quarters.

The entire country faced severe food shortage during World War II. But the people of Yendayar were fortunate because Murphy ensured regular supplies of quality rice and other items at a great personal cost. Sub-standard stuff was destroyed.

One of Murphy’s passions was racing. He had a large stable and his horses brought him laurels from many courses in India, England and Ireland. The trophies were proudly displayed at the Yendayar bungalow.

One day Murphy found a gold cup missing. He was furious and called the police. The cops suspected an insider job and wanted to take the house staff to the police station for further questioning. That upset Murphy. He did not want his servants to face the ignominy of the police procedure. He withdrew the complaint.

Murphy’s philanthropy was legendary. No person who went to him with a genuine need had to return disappointed.

But the principal of St. Berchman’s College, Changanacherry, who approached the Irishman for a contribution to the college building fund, had a rough time. Murphy told the priest that he did not believe in college education. According to him, vocation-based technical training was more important.

Murphy’s experience with university education was rather short. He had enrolled at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD). But without completing the course, he sailed to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to seek his fortune. For some reason, he struck out on his own, though he belonged to a prominent Dublin family of shippers and bankers.

St. Berchman’s principal was rattled by Murphy’s reaction and mumbled defensively that they were running a weaving school also.

Anyway, Murphy donated Rs.5,000 – a princely sum those days – to the college fund. Later he made enquiries about the weaving school the principal had mentioned and sent a cheque for Rs.7,500 for modernizing it.

During World War I or shortly after it, an estate supplies company filed a case against Murphy alleging that he had smashed several bottles of liquor at their outlet in Mundakayam. The legal advice to Murphy was to deny the charge. But he refused, claiming that he would never tell a lie.

Murphy argued the case himself. He told the judge that his (Irish) blood boiled when he saw some German products on the liquor rack. He was let off with a warning.

In writing this I have relied heavily on an article about Murphy titled ‘Princely Planter’ by K. V. Thomas Pottamkulam. It concludes with the statement “I would like to think that if, instead of coming to India, he had emigrated to the United States, he might well have become the first Irish Catholic President decades before J. F. Kennedy.”

Tail piece. A few days back, on May 8 , when I checked into Lotus Club, Cochin, an young fellow named Siby brought my baggage to the room. I asked him where he was from. “Yendayar,” he answered, and added, “Murphy sahib’s place.”

I thought that his voice had a tinge of pride.

Ends.

Related post:
An Indian village remembers its Irish ‘father’.

Heron’s Pool: A town, a house, a book and a ship

The town. Mundakayam is just starting to come on the tourism map of Kerala. It is a flourishing town on National Highway 220, almost halfway between two popular tourist spots – Kumarakom and Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Many places of great interest to travelers are easily accessible from Mundakayam. The natural beauty of the areas surrounding the town can be gauged by the fact that over a hundred movies have been shot there. It is also the entry point to Kerala’s High Ranges and the plantations.

Mundakayam is prosperous place and the people have a distinctive way of life. But !50 years back it was a thick forest inhabited by hill tribes. In 1843 Pastor Henry Baker ventured into the area where no white man had ever set foot before.

He found a number of herons nesting around a quiet pool and named the place Heron’s Pool. Translated to Malayalam, the local language, it became Mundikayam>Mundakayam (Mundi=heron, kayam=pool).

Many other sahibs followed Baker to seek their fortune in planting – tea, rubber, coffee, spices. The most famous among them was the Irishman J.J. Murphy.

The house. The quaint bungalow was the residence of the well-known planter and industrialist, late Jose Kallivayalil (my maternal uncle). Many important personages including political bosses, top officials, British nobility, and other nationalities had enjoyed Kallivayalil’s legendary hospitality there. Now his son Chacko and his charming wife Sheila have converted the place into a home stay with the name Heron’s Pool.

What is amazing about the 70+ year-old building is the amount of teak and rosewood with intricate work used on the walls, flooring, trellis, and furniture. The eight feet long dining table is made from a single piece of teak! The food there has been traditionally good.

Given below is a photo of the front veranda:

Photo by me. Copyright reserved. Click to enlarge.

The bungalow has a lovely cobbled nadumuttam (inner courtyard) with a large guava tree in the center. On one side is a veranda which can be used as a stage for cultural events.

The house is nestled in a plantation that has several types of cash crops. It is on NH 220, about 3 kilometers east of Mundakayam Town. Next to it is the Mundakayam Club established by J.J. Murphy in 1912. You can visit the website http://www.heronspool.com/

The book. ‘Above the Heron’s Pool’ (ISBN 0 907799515) by Heather Lovatt & Peter de Jong is an interesting book which deals with the history of the High Ranges. Heather had lived in the area for many years. She has also written a reference book on the subject, titled ‘A Short History of The Peermade/Vandiperiyar District’ (CMS Press, Kottayam. 1979).

The ship. SS Heronspool was freighter of Ropner Shipping Company. In a valiant night engagement with the German submarine U48 off the Irish Coast she was torpedoed on 12^th October 1939.

Ends.

Also see Irish father of Indian cardamom, rubber and pepper planting

An Indian village remembers its Irish ‘father’.

John Joseph Murphy
Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice
(1872 - 1957)

The year 2007 was special for Yendayar, a small township tucked away in the HighRanges of Kerala, India. The citizens organized several functions to remember the Irishman, JJ Murphy, who had died half a century back and to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the JJ Murphy Memorial High School.

The celebrations started earlier in the year with a public meeting presided over by AT Devasia, the former Vice Chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University.

Murphy had come 103 years ago to the place which was a thick forest and had no name or people then. He had traveled a long way to reach there. He left Dublin at the age of 21, was trained in tea planting in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and then joined a British estate in South India. At the age of 29 he started out on his own and became one of the most successful individual British planters in India. He was sometimes referred to as ‘the king of planters’.

According to local tradition, Murphy named the place that was to be his home till death in 1957, after his mother and the local river. Yendayar is a combination of ‘yen’ (my) ‘thai’ (mother) and ‘ar’ (river). There he established India’s first successful rubber plantation. He brought workers from near and far – Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

And he looked after them like no other planter had ever done before. He paid them high and provided amenities that were unheard of those days. It is said that a good portion of his fortune went to them. And they loved him. For several generations of the local population, he has been and continues to be their ‘Murphy Sayippu’ (Malayalam for sahib).

When Michael Kallivayalil, the present owner of Yendayar Estate decided to build a school in Murphy’s name, the local people wholeheartedly joined him in the endeavor. The school was opened in 1982, the 25^th Death Anniversary of Murphy.

Padmabhshan Justice KT Thomas, retired judge of the Supreme Court of India who presided over the valedictory function was touched by the respect and affection of the people for the Irishman. It was unusual he said, that those who had fought for freedom from British, showed such reverence to Murphy (known as JJ to his friends and Murphy Sayippu to the people).

Earlier in the year the local population had held a remembrance march from Murphy’s tomb at a lovely location in the estate (a spot which he himself had selected) to his bungalow and to the school.

About seventy of those who had worked for Murphy are still alive. The oldest among them is Bhayalakshmi, 97 (see photo below). Later there was a meeting of the former employees of Murphy at Yendayar Estate. Michael and his wife Mary (see photos above) hosted a party for them. It was a poignant get-together brimming with nostalgia.

In 2002 the then Irish Ambassador to India, Philip McDonagh had called on Michael and together with him, had visited JJ Murphy Memorial High School and the Irishman’s tomb to pay homage.

Murphy Sayippu lives on, in the hearts of those who knew him, and their posterity.

Mrs. Bhagyalakshmi lighting the traditional lamp
at the School's Silver Jubilee celebrations.
Others in the photo, Left to Right:
Michael A. Kallivayalil, Manager, Chandran, PTA President
and Joseph M. Kallivayalil.

Ends.

Photos copyright reserved. Credits: Top – Claire Hill. Others: Glenrock Office

Click on photos for enlarged view.

Click on the links to read the following articles on Murphy:

Irish father of Indian cardamom, rubber and pepper planting

Irish planter, punter, soldier, playboy

Irish planter, punter, soldier, playboy

My post Irish father of Indian cardamom, rubber and pepper planting on 27^th May seems to have been received well. I had concluded that article by mentioning about Murphy’s failure to enlist in the in the army during World War I because of recruitment age limit. I should have realized that he was not the type to leave it at that. From further study of the details of his life I found that by 1917, around the age of 45, he was in uniform. Apparently, he must have obtained special permission.

JJ Murphy joined Supply and Transport, the forerunner of Royal Indian Supply Corps (RIASC), now known as Army Supply Corps (ASC). He served mainly in the Persia area and, after the war, came back to Yendayar, to his beloved plantations. But apart from the estates, he started taking a keen interest in horse racing. He certainly had the Irish flare for this sport.

Around 1920, Lord Willingdon, the then Governor of Madras was on a mission to revive racing in his capital city. Murphy was one of the first to support him. To quote from KL Kershaw, “For several years he dominated the racing world of Madras. At one time he owned 22 horses under training and they carried his colours on the turf of Madras, Ootacamund, Bangalore, Poona, Bombay and Calcutta.”

On a single day, at Madras, his horses won the Governor’s Cup and four other races. Among his impressive wins were the Indian St. Leger at Poona and CN Wadia Gold Cup in Bombay. He took his “Old Orkney” to England and won the Manchester November Handicap in 1927 with Steve Donahue riding, and the Goodwood Cup in 1929.

Murphy’s other loves included the company of the fair sex, good food, and wine. And parties. Kershaw says, “For years the Murphy Ball was the main feature of the “Planters’ Week”; when JJ entertained three and four hundred guests a night. His parties for the Dublin Horse Show, for Ascot, for the Derby; his entertainments at the Savoy, at the Berkely, at St. Ann’s – his house in Ootty and elsewhere became legendary".

Suddenly, at the age of 60, Murphy called off the whirl and withdrew to Yendayar. He concentrated more of labor welfare activities of which he was a pioneer in the plantation industry. Long before the laws were passed to the effect, for his workers Murphy had permanent accommodation, piped water, sanitation, maternity wards, crèches, hospitalization, noonday meals for children, and schools. He paid his workers each of whom he knew personally, higher wages than the rest of the planters. He also introduced generous gratuity and pension schemes.

JJ Murphy was a much loved and respected man. He last visited Ireland in 1938-1939, almost two decades before his death.

Ends.